Mulligan blasts Kenny and Gilmore’s ‘hypocrisy’

Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny and Labour’s Eamon Gilmore, were proponents of the Lisbon Treaty and claimed it would not undermine the economic sovereignty of this State, Sinn Féin councillor Michael Mulligan pointed out this week.

“They stated that there were no provisions under which the European Union could commandeer further fiscal powers from member states. However, the European Commission proposals to peer-review national budgets, exploiting provisions of the Lisbon Treaty itself to adopt measures specific to those Member States in the euro. Several months on, the hypocrisy of Fine Gael and Labour in saying that the sovereignty of member state’s fiscal powers would be retained post-Lisbon has been exposed.

“Sinn Féin was the only party who highlighted that Article 115A would strengthen the powers of the Commission to police what they call ‘excessive budget deficits’ by member states and would give it increased powers to limit government deficits to three percent of GDP. But we were ridiculed by all the pro-Lisbon campaigners. We warned that the Lisbon Treaty would not allow Ireland to deal with the economic problems facing us as increased European interference would cripple the real economy rather than help it.

“What the people of this State need to remember as we hold our breaths to see if these Commission proposals will get passed by Member States is that Fine Gael and Labour stood behind the Treaty to allow this to happen, that they vigorously campaigned for the implementation of the Treaty that is facilitating this usurpation of national economic sovereignty and that no matter how much Enda Kenny or Eamon Gilmore condemn the Government for letting this happen, they are equally guilty for the loss of Irish sovereignty.”